Agents of SHIELD S04E10 Review: Superhero Steroids

Agents of SHIELD, Season 4, Episode 10: The Patriot

A very solid and unexpected episode. While the title makes it obvious that this episode is an overdue Jeffrey Mace centric episode, the revelation that he's not actually an Inhuman, and is actually using drugs to enhance his strength temporarily, so as to make him the perfect, presentable PR device as someone who happens to be a well-known public hero (he's actually a fake in that regards -- as much as he tries to cover it up) that also is an Inhuman. His conversation with Coulson at the end of the episode is pretty heartwrenching, as he tells Coulson how he just wants to help, and honestly? He's actually doing some real good work this season. His saccharine "team that trusts" speech might be grating to people, but he's actually making some good decisions and his reactions to Coulson's multiple insubordinations are actually all reasonable, so it's nice to see Mace stick around, even if Coulson's supplanting him as the head of operations. 

We've been having hints that Jeffrey Mace is not all that he seems, though honestly those are a little too obviously red herrings, with the only strange one being the mention that he lied about Vienna -- something that's made clear here. It's a misunderstanding that the public swallowed eagerly, and when creating the Patriot persona, Talbot decided to incorporate it into Mace's backstory. 

As we turn back to the Inhumans as a more major plot point with it sitting in the background while all the Ghost Rider goodness took place, it's nice to have Mace's status as an Inhuman addressed. After a cool little moment where he publicly acknowledges Quake's actions as heroic, an ex-Hydra sniper attempts to murder him. Burrows is right -- throwing the exploding podium is badass. But Burrows, who has been a constant if minor presence for the past 10 episodes as Mace's toadie, gets sucked out of the Quinjet when a bomb goes off, with him a mysterious suitcase cuffed to his arm. A suitcase that Mace is very, very desperate to get back, as much as he downplays it.

Coulson and Mcak are stuck with the Director, and while they're not stupid enough and quickly realizes that Mace is after the case, Coulson doesn't push it until it becomes very necessary. We get a very awesome set of scenes as Coulson and Mack discover that Mace isn't an Inhuman, just someone who uses drugs to have brief periods of super-strength, and right now? He's a liability who can barely shoot a gun. It's very interesting, really, because while his buildup might hint that he's a Hydra agent, or an agent for Nadeer, or not actually a good guy or something like that, I never actually questioned his status as an Inhuman, so while not entirely unpredictable, it is still a nice twist for me. 

We get a nice little B-plot at base as Talbot tries his best to use his bombastic attitude to deflect suspicion around from Simmons -- who actually now has the credentials to access the Patriot project, and his humbled performance when he speaks to Fitz and Simmons privately is great. Talbot is very defensive, though, especially when confronted by Coulson later -- with their one marketable Inhuman (Elena and Joey don't seem like the people to want public exposure, after all) going rogue, their hands were kind of tied. It's a bit of a white lie that went too far. Maybe it would have more impact if Talbot himself has had a bigger presence in the show -- he's recurring, sure, but I really wished he was in it more so moments like this became far more relevant -- but that would mean overcrowding the Ghost Rider arc and I don't want that.

Talbot and Simmons interrogating the ex-Hydra agent is awesome, with Talbot rightfully noting that he is the man responsible for dismantling Hydra, and Simmons using her (not entirely untrue) past as a Hydra agent to great use as she pulls out what appears to be a disembodied head -- really Aida's. That was a glorious scene.

The subplot with Fitz having an obsession with learning from Aida's disembodied head is a clever way to make sure the Darkhold information that Aida actually read don't go to waste (and giving Fitz a chance to discover Radcliffe's duplicity), though the conflict between Simmons and Fitz regarding it felt forced.

Of course, while all this is going on, the LMD plot is moving on its own pace. Radcliffe and Aida 2.0 have a brief trouble with holding May sedated, but they do so anyway. We get to see why Radcliffe thought a May LMD that doesn't know her true nature is problematic -- Aida's self-awareness when she killed the agent was a huge issue that he didn't want a repeat of, so LMD!May is basically a sleeper agent. Of course... LMD!May discovers that she is actually a robot at the end of the episode. So, er, oops? A very interesting wrinkle to an already interesting storyline.

Overall, a great episode, if a slightly slower one. The LMD plot moves forwards ever so slightly, and we get to explore Jeffrey Mace as a character. The fact that the action scenes are genuinely fun to watch helps a lot too. 

Marvel Easter Eggs Corner:

• Mace's Patriot serum is mentioned to be modified version of the Mr. Hyde serum that Cal Zabo uses in Agents of SHIELD's third season. Simmons initially thinks that the serum was derived from Erskine's formula, which, of course, is the formula that made Steve Rogers into Captain America.
• One of the soldiers used exploding bullets, which previously appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe last year in Luke Cage.
• Pretending to have superpowers while actually reliant on drugs with a fixed time limit is actually the modus operandi of Elijah Bradley, Jeffrey Mace's successor as Patriot in the comics.